Gertrude R Anderson (1895-1980)

Gertrude Anderson was born in Rochester, NY to Frederick Lincoln Anderson and Gertrude Fuller. Rev. Anderson was an esteemed professor at Andover-Newton, and the son of Galusha Anderson, who was a theologian, Baptist minister and president of Old University of Chicago and Denison University.

Gertrude Anderson in Class of 1912 photo, Newton High School.

The Newton Andersons lived at 169 Homer St. Gertrude was an early and exceptional standout in school. In the 8th grade she gave the “Farewell Address” at the Mason Grammar School graduation.

She was baptized at 14 by Dr. Levy in the First Baptist Church in Newton Sanctuary in 1909 on Easter Sunday.

She read an essay on “The Story of History” at Newton High School’s graduation in 1912. She was on the honor roll at Wellesley and in 1916 having belonged to the Agora Society whose focus was on the political questions of the day. It was at Wellesley that her desire to be a missionary was kindled. However, she was considered too young for the foreign field and spent four years teaching at The Atlantic Baptist Female Seminary, later known as Spelman College in Atlanta.

Gertrude Anderson.

In 1920 she was sent by The Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Missionary to Myanmar (by way of the Suez Canal. She returned home during the Japanese occupation of Myanmar and studied at Andover Newton and Cornell.  More on her remarkable life and work next week.

The FBCN Church News wrote in 1945 that "Gertrude has been our representative in foreign service for many years. It is our privilege to support her."

After being compelled to leave Myanmar during the Japanese occupation, Gertrude served as a nurse at MGH Phillips House. The Woman's American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society decided in 1945 to send her to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here are Gertrude's words from a letter to the Church News while she was in Africa:

At age 54 she was living at the Hasseltine House, a home for retired missionaries at 40 Chase St. Newton Centre. She later moved to the Baptist Home on Comm Ave. In 1978 she was the keynote speaker there for the "ingathering of the linens". She died two years later.

She is buried in the family grave in Newton Cemetery. However, perhaps because she was the last of her family, there is no marker with her name on the family site.